Bluebell season again …

The last few weeks – as ever – have been a celebration of the time of year, with strolls by the Grand Union canal as part of the London Loop and more hikes through the Hertfordshire countryside …

past Henry Moore’s sculptures at Perry Green …… and the tomatoes at Green Tye … And finally a trip to see Carlyle’s house and garden in Chelsea …

May 13, 2012 Posted in: English Walks No Comments

Moscow Walks, Spring

Moscow Walks, Spring is now available on amazon.co.uk and from all branches of Le Pain Quotidien in Moscow.

May 13, 2012 Posted in: Moscow Walks No Comments

Next ‘Moscow Walks’ out soon…

The Winter volume of ‘Moscow Walks’ should finally arrive in branches of Le Pain Quotidien across Moscow around January 17th 2012 and will be available from Amazon UK about two weeks after that. The Autumn book has been well received and is still available… Don’t forget you can walk the routes – of course – at any time of year. Happy walking!

January 2, 2012 Posted in: Moscow Walks No Comments

Iconic Taganka

Stroll through the hilly backstreets of one of Moscow’s most interesting areas

Start: Taganskaya metro

End: Rimskaya metro

Distance: about 6km

The theatres, churches, museums and markets around the Taganka area, in the shadow of one of Stalin’s skyscrapers, make this one of the most fascinating areas in the city. There are treasures hidden around every corner: a historic stage, a cold war bunker, an art nouveau gem, a white-washed monastery full of icons and a ‘Roman’ metro station.

Even the Taganskaya Metro Station, with its flame-shaped ceramic panels and embossed dome, is worth looking at. Exit to the city from the brown (circle) line and you should come out directly opposite the famous Taganka Theatre, where the bard-poet-actor Vladimir Vysotsky played a guitar-playing, jeans-wearing Hamlet in the 1970s. There is a monument to Vysotsky in the theatre courtyard and round the back, on Nizhny Tagansky Tupik, there is a funky museum dedicated to his life and work.

Turning sharp left out of the metro, you pass the 18th century Church of St Nicholas by Taganka Gate. Haphazardly restored, it still has some of the Baroque elements of the original design. Cross the road and walk along 5th Kotelnichesky Pereulok to another church, the “Assumption in the Potteries”, built in 1654 by the local community of Potters, who created the beautiful tiled frieze partly as an advert for their work. The building, which was never closed, has belonged to the Bulgarian Orthodox church since 1948.

Go straight on across Goncharnaya Ulitsa (“Pottery Street”) to find on your left at number 11, the red-starred gateway of the “Tagansky Protected Command Post”, now a Cold War Museum. This underground surveillance centre – built in the 1950s to withstand nuclear attack – is now owned by a private company that organizes expensive tours. The idea of 7,000 square meters of tunnels running 60 meters under your feet is a startling revelation.

Carry on down to the river and turn right along the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, whose name comes from the “Kotelniki” craftspeople, making kettles and saucepans, who settled here in the 17^th century. In first Kotelnichesky Pereulok, the third turning on the right, you reach yet another church of St Nicholas, this one built in the 1820s by Osip Bové, who designed the Bolshoi Theatre. This church carries his trademark classical features: porticos, large domes, vaulted ceilings. There is a bas-relief of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on the outside wall. The church was badly damaged during the Soviet era, when it was a hydro-geological laboratory.

Going on along the riverside embankment, you reach the Kotelniki apartment block. This residential skyscraper, which straddles the confluence of the Moskva and Yauza rivers, was completed in 1952 and provided fancy flats for the Kremlin elite. For a flavor of the original interiors, pop into the Gastronom (food shop) in the near corner, where the old decoration has been preserved. The chandeliers and elaborate plasterwork are reminiscent of some of the ring-line metro stations that were completed around the same time.

When you reach the grand entrance just round the corner, you can double back sharp right through the huge archway and head for the stairs up past the playground. Climb up the slope behind the apartment building, ending with a little flight of metal steps to reach the whitewashed wall of another beautiful church, one of the few to survive from the time of Boris Godunov. This ensemble of buildings belongs to the Old Believers’ Community and will not admit women unless they are wearing long skirts. In fact, they are generally not too happy to receive casual visitors, but you can peer in through the gate. There is a new museum of icons just opposite. Turn right past a neoclassical bank – and then left past the wooden house on the corner into Ryumin Pereulok.

Half way down this little road, there is a lovely art nouveau mansion on your left, at number two, with a mosaic of poppies, colorful molding and a waveform fence. At the end of this road, our route runs almost straight on into Teterinsky Pereulok, but it is worth taking a look at the early nineteenth century Batashova palace, now a hospital, just to the left. There are smiling black lions on top of the gates and inside, round to the left of the main building, is a beautiful old balcony and a memorial to victims of Stalin’s purges.

At the far end of Teterinsky Pereulok, cross underneath the Garden Ring and go on along Aristarkhovsky Pereulok. At the end of this road, turn left and then right into Martinovsky Pereulok which comes out near the huge Church of Martin the Confessor. The architect, Rodion Kazakov (no relation of the more famous Matvei), built this late 18th century church, which has its original trompe l’oeil decoration inside. Turn left along Ulitsa Stanislavskogo, passing the long curving facade of the Alexeyev family’s factory, built in 1912. This family, whose fortune came from making gold and silver thread, is most famous for producing the theatrical pioneer, Kontantin Stanislavsky, who was born round the corner. Don’t miss the beautiful, red brick theatre, Stanislavsky’s first, in the courtyard behind the factory and the café in the factory lobby.

You come out of this road onto Nikolyamskaya Ulitsa and head right to the turquoise church of St Sergei Radonezh. Crossing the road behind it, you come to the Andronikov Monastery, a haven of medieval contemplation in the midst of the noise and pollution of modern Moscow.

Coming out of the monastery, walk straight ahead, past the statue of Andrei Rublyov, the great icon-painter, who lived and worked in the Spaso-Andronikov. Turn left over the pedestrian crossing; take the underpass under the main road, go straight ahead along Bolshaya Andronyevskaya Ulitsa and then left into Shkolnaya Ulitsa.

This pedestrianized street consists almost entirely of low-rise 19^th century carriage houses. These were vital resting places for horse-drawn carriages on the major roads to Vladimir and Ryazan. The next stopping place along the highway was the village of Rogozhi (now the town of Noginsk), giving the area the name of ‘Rogozhskaya Sloboda’. There is a weekend market at the end of the road. Go into the underpass ahead to reach Rimskaya Metro and see sculptures of baby Romulus and Remus at one end of the platform.

Food and Drink

There is a cozy branch of Le Pain Quotidien at the start of this walk, just outside the metro station on the side closest to the main road. There is a chic and comfortable café inside the converted factory at, open weekdays until 7 pm. The leather sofas, fresh coffee and homemade biscuits are great, but the service can be a bit leisurely. The café’s lampshades, made to look like reels of silver thread, are a subtle reminder of the factory’s original purpose. A new café has opened in the Spaso Andronikov monastery and there is another on Shkolnaya Ulitsa.

Museums

There is a museum dedicated to ballerina Galina Ulanova inside the Kotelniki apartment block, in the flat where she lived. Tours are available by calling 91544417.

In the 17th century church of the Archangel Michael in the Spaso-Andronikov monastery, there is a permanent exhibition of icons from a variety of schools and eras. The museum costs 300/150 roubles for foreigners/Russians and is closed on Wednesdays.

Kids’ Stuff

You might want to divide this walk into two. The second half with the grassy monastery lawns, pedestrianized Shkolnaya Ulitsa and the playful metro at the end is arguably more interesting. Simply start from Marxistskaya metro and head down Bolshaya Kommunisticheskaya Ulitsa where you can soon pick up the route at.

Landmark – Saviour Cathedral

Inside the whitewashed walls and wood-topped towers of the monastery, Moscow’s oldest surviving cathedral is piled up with curving gables below the single high dome. The Saviour (Spassky) Cathedral, completed in the early 15th century, draws on the church-building traditions of Suzdal and Vladimir, but also incorporates elements like the gables from the nascent Moscow style. Andrei Rublyov originally decorated the interior, but now there is almost nothing left of his paintings on the bare stone walls.

January 1, 2012 Posted in: Moscow Walks One Comment

Beyond the Moscow River

A summertime stroll through some of Moscow’s most beautiful streets.

Start: Novokuznetskaya metro station

End: Park Kultury metro station

Distance: about 4 km

One of the pleasantest areas for an urban walk is historic ‘Zamoskvorechye’, whose name means literally ‘beyond the Moscow River’. The area is packed with colourful churches, literary connections, museums to discover, great cafes and hidden gardens, including the sculpture park around the New Tretyakov museum, where this route ends.

The beautiful mosaic ceiling panels in Novokuznetskaya metro station make a suitably artistic start for this mini-adventure. Turn right out of the metro along Pyatnitskaya Ulitsa. Tolstoy rented a flat in the modest town house at number 12 in the mid-1850s and worked on the early novel “The Cossacks” and the short story “Three Deaths.”

Turn left, immediately after the Pain Quotidien café, along winding Chernigovsky Pereulok with its beautiful churches. On the right, you pass a tall green bell tower and the church of John the Baptist under the Pine trees. The lovely 17^th century church on the left with its tiled, pinecone-like domes was originally built as a side chapel for John the Baptist opposite; it is officially known as the “Church of Blessed Prince Michael and Boyar Theodore of Chernigov, the Wonderworkers.” Follow the road round, past an art nouveau apartment block; you can see ahead an 18^th century mansion, now housing the Slavic Institute.

One of the joys of this area is the variety of architecture side by side. Right and then almost straight on across Bolshaya Ordynka, whose name remembers the invading, medieval ‘Golden Horde’, you get an excellent view of the fabulous ‘Resurrection in Kadashi’. The church itself is accessible through a little gate in Kadashevsky Tupik round the far side. This late 17th century church is a great example of the Naryshkin baroque style, with its white stone ornaments on a red background. There is a restoration workshop in the grounds, which services other churches in the area and even a tiny museum of the Kadashevsky (weavers’) settlement.

After visiting the church, turn left onto 3rd Kadashevsky Pereulok to reach Bolshaya Ordynka again. Number 17, across the road, is another house with literary connections; the poet, Anna Akhmatova, more famously associated with Petersburg, stayed there on her visits to Moscow. There is a modern memorial to her in the courtyard and a new museum has just opened nearby.

Turn right, past the yellow Church of the Consolation of All Sorrows, left past Tretyakovskaya metro, and right again into Malaya Ordynka. Number 9 is the grey weather-board house where the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky was born, author of 47 plays that are still regularly acted across the city. He is closely associated with the Maly Theatre and the upper floor of this lovely house-museum is dedicated to the theatre, and sets and costumes for his plays throughout the ages. The ground floor reconstructs rooms circa 1823 when the playwright was born. The garden, with its bust of Ostrovsky and spring flowers, is a hidden oasis.

You can usually cut back onto Bolshaya Ordynka through the garden of the church opposite. If the gate is locked, simply walk back round via the metro to the far side of the whitewashed Church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhi. Among the heaps of mid-17th century domes and gables, the intricate bell tower and window frames are particularly lovely. The crown-topped crosses on the domes suggest a Streltsy church, funded by the guardsmen of the Imperial army, specifically, Colonel Pyzhev’s regiment of musketeers. Raided by Napoleon, shut down by Stalin and used as laboratory, this great little church is a thriving place of worship again.

Turning left onto Bolshaya Ordynka from the church, you reach the gates of the beautiful Martha and Mary Convent. Princess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and widow of Grand Duke Sergei, founded the convent, with a hospital and orphanage, after her husband was assassinated in 1905. She was thrown into a mineshaft by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and is now an Orthodox martyr. There is a statue of her outside the door of the lovely, art nouveau Intercession church.

Almost immediately after the convent, turn right next to the Fuller’s Pub through a winding, modern courtyard with offices and cafes to emerge onto Staromonetny Pereulok behind the orange and turquoise church of St Gregory, with its silver domes. Make your way to the far side of this mid-17th century building, passing Polyanka metro, to admire all the hallmarks of the period: layers of “kokoshniki” gables (shaped like medieval women’s head-dresses) and a tent roofed bell tower. The frieze of ceramic tiles, with their characteristic “peacock’s eye” motif, is by the Belorussian master craftsman Stepan Polubes, who worked for the Romanov tsars. The church was commissioned by Tsar Alexei who had his son, the future Peter the Great, christened here. Don’t miss the carved and painted stone doorway on the way in.

Take the lane opposite the church, Brodnikov Pereulok, cross under busy Bolshaya Yakimanka through the underpass to your right, and walk along the side of the President Hotel to reach one last church, St Nicholas, in the corner of the ‘Muzeon’ sculpture garden. The Muzeon (whose entrance is beyond the church along the little lane behind the hotel) started as a kind of graveyard of fallen Soviet idols. The most famous exhibits include the towering Felix Dzerzhinsky, notorious, torturing founder of the Bolshevik secret police. This bronze monster was erected in Lubyanka in front of the infamous prison and torn down in 1991, when it ended up here. Keeping him company are several Lenins, together with vandalised granite Stalins and marble Brezhnevs.

Nearby, three men standing together are the characteristically dynamic work of Vera Mukhina, whose giant “Worker and Peasant Girl” stands outside the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. Among the more recent pieces that help make this garden such an interesting place, a gulag of caged heads behind Stalin represents the victims of repression. When you’ve had enough, there are several options for reaching a metro: right out or the main gates and over the bridge to Park Kultury, left to Oktyabrskaya metro, or take the exit near the giant statue of Peter the Great and cross the river to Kropotkinskaya.

Food and Drink

On the corner of Pyatnitskaya Ulitsa and Chernigovsky Pereulok is a branch of the Pain Quotidien bakery-cafe chain. This particular building, with its interesting brick-lined back room was historically used as a bakery and continues this area’s fine traditions in characteristically tasteful surroundings.

There are plenty of other options in the neighbourhood, including a simple café in the basement of one of the Martha and Mary Convent’s buildings, near the shop left of the gate as you go out. Here you can get reheated soups, salads, fresh pies and espresso. The curd cheese pastries dusted with icing sugar are recommended.

You can pop into the branch of Correa’s in the courtyard-cut-through near the convent if you feel more like pizza, sandwiches and sangria. http://www.correas.ru/en/

There are even a couple of log-cabin cafes in the middle of the sculpture garden at the end, which can be great for beer and snacks on a summer afternoon.

Museums

The Exhibition Hall of the Lev Tolstoy Museum, one of three branches in Moscow, is open 11am – 5pm, Weds-Sun and sometimes has interesting shows of Tolstoy-related paintings and manuscripts.

The one-room museum of the weavers’ settlement in the Church at Kadaschi is open by appointment only. Call +7 (495) 953-1319 to arrange a visit.

Alexander Ostrovsky House-Museum – This delightful wooden house is worth popping into even if you have no interest in the playwright. It gives visitors a great sense of what the area might have been like in the 19^th century and has an attic full of theatrical memorabilia. It’s open from noon Weds-Sun, costs 150 roubles and is a branch of the main Bakhrushin Theatre Museum. http://bakhrushin.theatre.ru/branches/dmo/

Of course, the two biggest museums in the area are the Tretyakov galleries. The icons and pre-revolutionary works, including those by Mikhail Nesterov, are housed on Lavrushinsky Pereulok while the 20^th century collections are in the modern building off Krimsky Val. You can find all the information you need, in English, at http://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/ .

The ‘Muzeon’ sculpture garden still has (for now) an iniquitous dual-pricing system, but it’s an interesting place to visit. http://www.muzeon.ru/

The sculpture garden is pretty fun for kids. It’s even got a little playground and some mercifully car-free space. The large, colourful works inside the New Tretyakov are eye-catching too.

Landmark – Intercession Church, Martha and Mary Convent

Alexei Shchusev, who later built Lenin’s mausoleum and the Kazansky railway station, designed this church in 1908. White walls with Vladimir-style carvings are topped by one bulbous and two elongated domes. The artist, Mikhail Nesterov, whose spiritually charged works you can also see in the nearby Tretyakov gallery, painted the murals. The deep blue of the women’s clothes, the luminous figure of Christ in the autumnal sunset of a Moscow birch grove and the expressive faces of the listening Russian peasants are typical of his paintings. Behind the church is a beautiful garden full of roses.

December 30, 2011 Posted in: Moscow Walks No Comments

Monument to Bermondsey and beyond…

Still enjoying a town/country dual life with midweek walks in London and Fridays/weekends in the fields… This Tuesday’s afternoon ramble (15th) started from Monument…

Crossed over the river with views towards Tower Bridge… (to be continued)…

November 17, 2011 Posted in: English Walks No Comments

Finsbury to Highgate and other adventures…

November 1st – a gloriously un-Novemberish day of sun and blue skies, autumn woods and secret trails… We walked through Finsbury Park, crossed the mainline railway and followed the Parkland walk, a disused railway through Crouch End… There were several interesting surprises along this green corridor – good views of the nearby areas, colourful graffiti, ghostly abandoned stations and a green man leaning mischievously out of the railway arches…

At the far end, Queen’s Wood, Highgate Wood and Kenwood House all have cafes and there is a great view across London..

The sunlit glades of Highgate Woods and sloping lawns of Kenwood were particularly beautiful in the autumn sun…

November 4th – a ramble from Wimbledon across the wombling common, through mud and Caesar’s camp and rural rides to Putney and a lunchtime concert in the church of St Mary… more when I can upload some photos – technical problems!

November 6, 2011 Posted in: English Walks No Comments

Autumn Walks in Moscow

My book is now for sale on amazon or in all branches of Le Pain Quotidien Moscow… £7/350 R… in Russian too!

Autumn Walks in Moscow

Phoebe’s Moscow Schedule – October 2011 -

Sunday 2nd October 2011 (1.35am – arrive at Domodedovo)

11am – Moscow for beginners. Meet outside Macdonalds on Tverskoi Bulvar near Tverskaya metro (NB NOT the Macdonalds on Tverskaya) for a classic stroll through the heart of town – Tverskoi Bulvar, past the conservatory down to Alexandrovsky gardens, over the bridge to Bolotnaya and lunch somewhere in Zamoskvarechye. Arriving at Novokuznetskaya metro around 2pm (or earlier if you need to). About 5km, medium.

A chilly start, but brisk – thanks to our power walkers… lunch in Grabli and the first books of the week sold… a tentative start.

2.30pm – Meet outside Novokuznetskaya metro (near the Adam and Eve fountain) for further exploration of the Zamoskvarechye area, passing lots of beautiful churches and finishing in the sculpture garden near the new Tretyakov around 5pm. (fairly close to Oktyabrskaya/Park Kulturi metros) About 5 km, medium.

Cheered up as went round some old favourites, including

5.30pm – meet outside the main gates to Gorky Park for an evening stroll through Gorky Park and Nyeskuchny Sad up to Sparrow Hills to watch the sun set… about 7km, medium-fast… arriving at Vorobyovy Gory metro around 8pm??

Monday 3rd October

10am ‘Iconic Taganka’. Meet in or near Le Pain Quotidien close to Taganskaya metro (Nizhnaya Radishevskaya, 5, bld.3) for a stroll through the streets of this interesting area of town, ending at Rimskaya metro station around 1pm with coffee if we’re lucky somewhere en route. 5km, medium.

2pm ‘Felt boots and ballet slippers’. Meet in Pelmeshka café outside Proletarskaya metro (purple line) for a wander through some of Mocsow’s industrial neighbourhoods with their hidden treasures, passing the Novospassky convent, felt boots shop. (Possibly popping into the Theatrical museum if it’s open and there is time). Ending at Paveletskaya metro at 5pm. 4km, medium-slow.

Tuesday 1.30pm – ‘Wooden wonders of Kolomenskoe’ meet outside the Orbit Cinema at Kolomenskaya metro (follow signs to KT Orbita) for a stroll through this beautiful park, stopping off at the log cabin cafes and ending at Kashirskaya metro around 4.30pm.

Thursday 1pm – meet in or near the Starlite Diner in the Aquarium Gardens near Mayakovskaya metro for a stroll around ‘Shekhtel’s castles’ in the Patriarch’s Ponds area. 4km, medium-slow … Finishing near Tverskaya metro around 3.30pm.

6.30-9pm – Launch party in Petrovka studio; followed by pub crawl – email artstudiomoscow@yahoo.com if you’d like to come…

Friday 7^th October – a stroll through the Pokrovsky Park (sturdy footwear probably needed!)…Meet outside AAS main gates at 10am.

1.15pm Meet outside AAS for another walk/tram ride through the parks, all the way to Serebryany Bor where there will be another informal launch party at 4.30-6.30pm.

Walks take place whatever the weather and everyone is welcome.

October 30, 2011 Posted in: Out of town walks No Comments

Starry domes and giant puffballs…

Further surreal adventures through town and country… September 8th – picked up the themes of religion for Russian London part 4… We then meandered along the Thames through Syon park with its early autumn colours and beautiful domed conservatory through Brentford and Isleworth, Richmond and Twickenham all the way to Strawberry Hill…

September 9th – back to Hatfield Forest for a rural ramble through the woodland rides… joined by several canine walkers…Discovered several giant puffballs in the grass and took them home for tea… they lasted us all week (bag of sugar to show size!)Delicious fried on toastand in my new invention – puffball quiche.

September 13th – The most surreal day of all…

Back to London for more orthodox adventures… starting from Richard Temple’s Icon gallery. An hour or more of brilliant insights into icons, their style and meaning and a mesmerising glimpse if Richard’s gold on gold collection

going on through Holland Park the All Saints’ cathedral in Ennismore gardens and the Merchant’s Yard (again)

Got sidetracked in a search for the grave of Metropolitan Anthony – not helped by the fact that I confused Brompton Oratory with Brompton Cemetery ! (very stupid I know, but then they were both so beautiful, it was a happy mistake)… Brompton Oratory – catholic cathedral

Brompton Cemetery – full of overgrown churchyard atmosphere (with a neoclassical necropolis in the middle).

While I was there I had to check out Chelsea Football club for my up-coming piece on Oligarchic London…District line to Whitechapel to see a Rothko painting… the streets around also full of pulsating colour. Finally, a gallery opening in Mayfair – champagne, sushi and artists from St Petersburg…

September 14, 2011 Posted in: English Walks No Comments

Bar crawls and country rambles…

The third installment of Russian London will be a tour of Russian restaurants… research for this feature has been great fun!

17th September – The bar crawl started in new and slightly bland Sobranie (=’meeting’ in Russian) behind Victoria station. The owners were delightful and the food was great… We went on into darkest Knightsbridge to check out ‘The Merchants’ Yard’, which has all kinds of familiar brands… and the nearby Bortsch and Tears, where the owners had gone to San Tropez! But when they do reopen, the garden sounds appealing… We stopped by the Russian Orthodox church… And then crossed the parks to find Abracadabra on Jermyn Street…hilariously sleazy; delightful waiter (Mark ‘I don’t do surnames’) showed off his Russian and enthused about Russian culture … great fun.

Then a trek across Regent’s Park and over Primrose Hill…to Troika… a perfect end to the day.

21st – 24th August – Beautiful rambles through the Oxfordshire countryside…through the gardens at Rousham, along the Oxford Canal… popping into several rural pubs…and through the cornfields… more next week!